Anyone heard of Prestige IQ monitor?
I purchased monitor and 100 strips at www.americandiabeteswholesale.com
for $33.00.I will give my impression when I receive and use.
Eddie

Mendosa has mentioned a new meter from U.S. Diagnostics called the Maxima which uses state of the art bio-sensor technology and according to US Diag. is one of the most accurate meters you can buy. Five second response time, 0.5 microliter blood required etc. Meter does not come with machine uploadable data ability though. Hocks dot com is giving away the meter if you buy 100 strips $16.99US per 50 strips ($33.98/100) but a tad more than your IQ one. Does the IQ have a data port?

Strip price for both meters is much cheaper than WallyMarts even... and from experience I have not had the best luck with that meter (Relion Ultima).

/smile

Korban
I'm not real happy with Relion meter either.
I don't think Prestige iQ has data port.
I will know more when I get it and use it a bit.
Bye for now
Eddie

Both of these sound very reasonable, since I'm new at this and testing, testing, testing I'm going through strips like crazy! I checked out the Maxima, but I couldn't find any lancets to order for it... are they interchangeable? Perhaps I just missed them...

I couldn't get the Hock's website to open.
The website eddie gave does include info that the Prestige has upload capability.
Thanks for the info, and let us know how you like it.

Update: There's video's showing the meter in use at http://www.thesmartchoice.com/products-2.asp
Looks like it takes a lot more blood and would waste a lot more strips than my Freestyle. I also don't like the testing method, or having to calibrate the meter to the strip carton. My freestyle has me spoiled with how easy it is, i guess. Can't beat that price, though.

Test strips are expensive. Before I got my relion meter, I had another one for free through a promotional deal a couple of years ago, but the test strips were double what the relion strips costs.

Here in China, I found a glucose meter for about the same cost as the Relion meter. The sales person said the test strips are about 6 cents each, but they were out, so I decided not to buy the meter till I can find the strips. That is a cost of about 1/8th of the Relion strips. If I am successful at finding those test strips, I'm going to buy about 5,000 of them to take home with me, if there is not an expiration date on them.... But, this is China and even though things are cheap, it is never simple, so I'll just have to wait and see if I can get my hands on that super savings deal....

Hmm I can't get it to open either at the moment. Was looking at it last night (Sunday).

I use the Freestyle too (and like it a lot) but still calibrate for a new lot. Perhaps it is because I am anal. Freestyle didn't recommend it but my One-Touch ultra2 meter does so I figured what the heck. I get good comparison between those two meters.. and the strips are "only" $1.00 each /sigh. That is the one my insurance recommended and they pay for most of the strips, fortunately.

/smile

Marcia, it doesn't matter what you use for finger sticking - all you get from that is a drop of blood, no matter what meter and strips you are using. So if you have a finger sticker that you are already using that came with another meter - and you have lancets for that - you can just use that forever with any meter.

I have 2 meters but can't get along with the finger sticker that came with the second one I bought, so I just use the one that I like with either meter.

Also, you may not know that you can keep reusing the same lancet for awhile, there is no danger of infection as long as you are the only one using it. (Even Dr. Bernstein says so). I usually keep the same lancet for about a week, sometimes longer, and change it to a fresh one when I start noticing that it hurts. You can get a lot of mileage out of a box of lancets.

This IQ meter looks exactly like the one I had about 6 years ago. Same blood-guzzling, hard to use strips, same name.

I don't think it was very accurate. I replaced it with a Relion that I liked better.

Hi Rose! Didn't think about that, but wouldn't you think if it includes a lancing device that it would have lancets available? I must have overlooked them, but when I searched Maxima they don't show up.

I hope you're talking about the Prestige... Hock's is back up and I just ordered the Maxima deal.

She was Sunflwr. The Maxima uses test strips with the capillary that sucks the blood up from the droplet. With the IQ Prestige it looks as though you have to place the droplet on the strip similar to the older generation Relion Meter.

/smile

When I take my RelyOn and One Touch to the lab, the Relyon is at least as accurate as the One Touch.

I received the Prestige IQ with 100 strips in the mail.
The Prestige is a bit awkward to use but the test strips are
packaged neatly in bottles-better than Relion test strip packaging.Results benchmark within 3 percent
of Relion and Freestyle meters.150 test strips for 51 bucks isn't
a bad price.I'm not sure if I'll continue to use this one after
I'm out of test strips.
Eddie

I received my Maxima a few days ago and finally have had time to set it up and give it a try. It does draw very quickly and seems to require less blood. I like it and think it's a bit more accurate than my ReliOn. To answer my own question... it does come with lancets, but I must say they bite a bit more than the ReliOn. The strips come in a vial, which I like. I was already getting a callous on my index finger from tearing the others open.

I find the fluctuations in readings very frustrating... for instance.

I took a nap this afternoon and when I woke up decided to check my blood at 4:54. ReliOn-89(first reading I've ever had that low since I started checking). Then checked the Maxima and it read 96; 4:55, then went back and checked the ReliOn again and it read 102; 4:57! Went back and checked the Maxima again and it read 98; 4:58! As you can see this was within minutes. So how do you know which reading is right? Frustrating... maybe I should have quit while I was ahead!

BTW... the Maxima Meter with 100 strips (2 at 16.99 each) totaled $42.78 with s&h.

MY favorite Lancing device came with my One-Touch meter. I only use the meter as a check standard and I do prefer my Freestyle Freedom meter (so does my insurance company).

My main problem with the Relion wasn't the accuracy as much as it was ripping those damn strips open (--> see callouses above). Nicely sealed and all, but geez... i.e., I like the vial too.

Coefficient of Variation between meter and strips may leave you as much as plus-or-minus 10 for 100 BG (but usually less) which is a bummer. Reading to reading I would say the variance is much less for a given vial. Bernstein does say to leave the strip on the finger for a couple secs after it registers or beeps. I probably leave it a second maybe, sometimes 2. This assures that the apparatus is appropriately loaded with our glucose filled blood. If you do enough testing it will all work out as an un-biased statistical aberration...

Re: Maxima (and IQ) - I really love the strip price and I like the capillary blood sucking device for the Maxima strips. I also had an older Relion as well as the new one - and the older one required a razor blade usually... well, sorta.

At the price, I should get me one as a verification unit - except I already have two others (Relion Ultima and 1-Touch Ultra2).

/smile